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2019-07-15 13:02:07

BIDU

Baidu

$115.31

0.41 (0.36%)

, SNAP

Snap

$15.59

-0.01 (-0.06%)

13:02

07/15/19

07/15

13:02

07/15/19

13:02

Baidu, Snap renew sales partnership

Baidu (BIDU) and Snap (SNAP) announced the renewal of their sales partnership, which first began in May 2017. The agreement authorizes Baidu to act as Snap's representative to advertisers in Greater China, Japan and South Korea. The press released noted that, through this partnership, "advertisers in these countries can leverage Snapchat's robust global reach and highly engaged community to grow their business through advertising."

As previously reported, Loop Capital analyst Rob Sanderson initiated Baidu with a Hold rating and a price target of $125. The analyst sees Baidu as a "strong technology company" offering "multiple long-term upside options", but also points to the soft macro conditions and a more competitive environment for its product. Sanderson wants to see improved visibility in the company's core business, adding that while its enterprise AI, voice search and autonomous vehicle opportunities are "sizable" in the long term, they are not yet "investable" for fund managers.

JPMorgan analyst Alex Yao last night downgraded Sogou (SOGO) to Underweight from Neutral and lowered his price target for the shares to $3.50 from $5.50. The analyst says he found no evidence to support the "widely adopted optimism" on an advertising growth recovery in the second half of 2019 for the China Internet sector. As a result, he's cautious on names with high exposure to online ads, or Baidu (BIDU), Weibo (WB), Sogou, Focus Media, Autohome (ATHM), and Bitauto (BITA). Yao downgraded both Sogou and Focus Media to Underweight and lowered his price target for Neutral-rated Baidu to $120 from $150.

07/10/19

KEYB

07/10/19NO CHANGETarget $160KEYBOverweight

Baidu price target lowered to $160 from $179 at KeyBanc

KeyBanc analyst Hans Chung lowered his price target for Baidu to $160 from $179 on the weaker online advertising business driven by budget cuts at advertisers, share loss to ByteDance, and lower bidding price given the oversupply issue. The analyst reiterates an Overweight rating on the shares.

07/12/19

LEHM

07/12/19NO CHANGETarget $145LEHMEqual Weight

Baidu price target lowered to $145 from $160 at Barclays

Barclays analyst Gregory Zhao lowered his price target for Baidu to $145 from $160 ahead of the company's Q2 results and keeps an Equal Weight rating on the shares.the principle problem for Baidu is how to bridge the gap between the present ads revenue growth slowdown and the ramping-up of the high-tech units' monetization, which might take three years, Zhao tells investors in a research note. While positive on Baidu's mid- to long-term outlook, he believe investors' current focus is still on its ads business.

SNAPSnap

$15.59

-0.01 (-0.06%)

07/11/19

BOFA

07/11/19NO CHANGETarget $17BOFANeutral

Snap price target raised to $17 from $12 at BofA/Merrill

BofA/Merrill analyst Justin Post raised his price target for Snap to $17 from $12 ahead of the company's Q2 results while keeping a Neutral rating on the name. Snap's "gender-face-swap" filter went viral in May and its SnapKit app "Yolo" reached number one on the iOS download charts, Post tells investors in a pre-earnings research note. Further, third party Snap app data in Q2 suggests downloads were near record levels, adds the analyst. However, for advertisers, channel checks remains mixed, says Post. The analyst expects improving user trends and revenue upside in Q2, but he thinks Snap will remain conservative in its outlook.

07/12/19

GSCO

07/12/19UPGRADETarget $18GSCOBuy

Snap upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs analyst Heath Terry upgraded Snap to Buy from Neutral and raised his price target for the shares to $18 from $13. The stock closed Thursday up 31c to $15.57. The company's new Android app, the launch of Snap Games and new viral lenses should accelerator user growth, Terry tells investors in a research note. He points out that Snap's total app downloads for May, the first month reflecting these recent innovations, was a record 41M. This represents a "stark reversal" of what were otherwise multi-year lows in app downloads that the platform experienced through most of 2018 and early 2019, says the analyst.

07/12/19

07/12/19UPGRADE

Fly Intel: Top five analyst upgrades

Catch up on today's top five analyst upgrades with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Altria Group (MO) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs with analyst Judy Hong saying the valuations in the tobacco sector are trading at a 10-year trough in spite of the "more accommodating" macro backdrop for Consumer Staples that includes a late cycle and lower yields. 2. Focus Financial (FOCS) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette. 3. Deutsche Bank (DB) upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS. 4. Morgan Stanley (MS) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citi. 5. Snap (SNAP) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs with analyst Heath Terry saying the company's new Android app, the launch of Snap Games, and new viral lenses should accelerator user growth. This list is just a portion of The Fly's full analyst coverage. To see The Fly's full Street Research coverage, click here.

07/15/19

MSCO

07/15/19NO CHANGETarget $13MSCOUnderweight

Snap's 'impressive' turnaround already priced in, says Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak said he underestimated Snap's "impressive" turnaround and he raised his estimates after his analyses pointed to better growth in users, revenue and EBITDA. While he also raised his price target on the stock to $13 from $9, Nowak still believes that even if Snap hits his above-consensus estimates that long-term EBITDA valuation points to multiple compression and he keeps an Underweight rating on the shares.

Technology & Internet Analyst Seyrafi holds a group luncheon meeting with Scott Gifis, President of AdRoll, a key re-targeting company that is a top buyer on Facebook, Google AdX and a key partner with Twitter, Pinterest, and others, in New York on September 24 at 12 pm hosted by FBN Securities.

Following Apple's (AAPL) Special Event, investors seemed to only care about Apple TV+'s unexpectedly low price, with stocks of streaming rivals like Netflix (NFLX) and Disney (DIS) quickly falling on potential unforeseen risks to competition, Tae Kim writes in this week's edition of Barron's. While the $4.99 a month price for Apple TV+ looks appealing, it may not be so attractive once consumers consider the number of shows the service will offer, the author contends, adding that the small lineup offered actually makes Apple TV+ look pricey compared with the competition. Reference Link

United Airlines stock has been range bound for much of the past year, as investors fretted about its ability to weather the impact of higher oil prices and potentially slowing growth, Ben Levisohn writes in this week's edition of Barron's. But the stock is just too cheap and may get a boost after a short squeeze, the publication notes. Reference Link

Amid talk of a coming recession and expectations that the Federal Reserve is about to lower interest rates again - theoretically crimping financial stocks - it is important to remember that buying stuff that is wildly out of favor, such as Bank of America's stock, is historically a great way to make money, Steven Sears writes in this week's edition of Barron's. Reference Link

Even in a rough year for retail stocks, Tapestry - the holding company that owns Coach, Kate Spade, and Stuart Weitzman - stands out as a flop, with shares down 25% in 2019, Avi Salzman writes in this week's edition of Barron's. The stock's recent weakness, however, opens an opportunity, the author contends, adding that investors should have more confidence in Tapestry's cash flow, which has help up. Reference Link

Amerco (UHAL), owner of U-Haul, is one of the "better-kept secrets" in the stock market as it has virtually no analyst coverage, communicates little with investors, and is run like a private business by controlling Shoen family, Andrew Bary writes in this week's edition of Barron's. Trading at $380, the shares look appealing after having been stuck in a range of $325-$400 for most of the past four years, the author notes. Reference Link

North American railroads like CSX (CSX), Union Pacific (UNP) and Canadian National Railway (CNI) have been Wall Street favorites, but freight volumes are declining amid worries over an economic slowdown and a trade war, price competition from truckers is pressuring rail rates and the railroads last hope for continued profit growth is efficiency gains, Bill Alpert writes in this week's edition of Barron's. However, there are limits to efficiency strategy as evident in Canada, where precision scheduled railroading was pioneered a decade ago on the long-haul runs of Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP), the author notes. Reference Link

Aimmune Therapeutics announced that the Allergenic Products Advisory Committee, or APAC, convened by the FDA voted to support the use of AR101, proposed trade name Palforzia, in children and teens with peanut allergy. Palforzia is a complex, biologic oral immunotherapy candidate designed to reduce the incidence and severity of allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, after accidental exposure to peanut in patients aged 4 through 17 years with a confirmed diagnosis of peanut allergy. The APAC voted 7 to 2 that the efficacy data and 8 to 1 that the safety data, in conjunction with additional safeguards, are adequate to support the use of Palforzia.

AT&T's (T) CNN will stop hosting advertisements from Juul, which is 35% owned by Altria (MO) and other e-cigarette brands following concerns over an illness that has affected users of vaping products, the Daily Beast's Maxwell Tani reports. During a Tuesday town-hall meeting with CNN employees, network head Jeff Zucker said in response to a question about the company's advertising deal with Juul that the network will not allow Juul or other vaping brands to buy ads moving forward, Tani reports, citing several network sources. A CNN spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Beast that it will no longer allow e-cigarette ads, but will leave the door open to reverse course if research shows vaping products are not harmful. Reference Link

Basic Energy Services announced that T.M. "Roe" Patterson, the company's president and CEO and a member of its board, notified the company that he plans to transition away from the company to pursue other business opportunities. The company has begun an executive search for a new CEO. Patterson will continue to serve as president and CEO of Basic, and as a member of the board, while the company conducts a search for his successor, and will remain with Basic in an advisory capacity for a period of time after his replacement is chosen to facilitate an orderly transition. Once his successor is chosen, Patterson will resign from his position on the board as well. Additionally, the company announced that Julio Quintana, a current independent director of the company, will take on the additional role of chairman of the board, effective September 13. Quintana became a member of the board in 2016. Timothy Day, who has served as a member of the board and chairman since 2016, will continue to serve as a director of the company and as chair of the Compensation Committee of the Board.

Philips has been awarded a maximum $400M fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for digital imaging network picture archiving communications system products and maintenance. This was a competitive acquisition with ten offers received. This is the seventh contract competitively awarded under the open solicitation. This is a five-year base contract with one five-year option period. Locations of performance are California and other areas located within and outside the continental U.S., with a September. 12, 2024, performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is FY19 through FY24 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency.

Raytheon was awarded a $427.3M contract for procurement of common sensor payload systems, spare parts and engineering and system support services. One bid was were solicited with one bid received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of September 12, 2024. U.S. Army Contracting Command is the contracting activity.